The not so Normal Life of an American Teenager
by hobbitatheart22
Summary: When Stella moved to NYC with her foster mom, she never wanted to get close to anyone. Until she met Max Russo..... Max/OC Rated T for possible violence
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place or any of the characters in it. Stella is my own original character. All the characters are fictional. If there is any resemblance, emotional or physical, between one of the characters and any non-fictional person, living or dead, you have strange friends.**

_Once upon a time, in the fair land of New York City….._

"Stella!" A voice broke into Estella Hines' sleep. She groaned and rolled over. "Stella!" the voice rang out again. This time, Stella peeled off the covers and rolled onto the ground. "Coming," she called.

Ever since Stella's parents had died 8 years ago, when Stella was only 9, she had been living with foster parents. Now she was living with Sierra, a 30-something women who was only taking Stella in for the money. Just last week the two of them had moved to a small apartment in New York City.

Stella walked over to her dresser and tugged on some of her clothes. After slipping on her sneakers, she headed to the kitchen, where Sierra was waiting.

"Morning, Sierra," Stella said.

Sierra ignored her. "You overslept."

Stella sighed. "I didn't sleep well. I can't help it."

"Listen, Stella," Sierra said firmly. "I don't care how much sleep you get. I have to be at work by 7, and rush hour traffic in NYC means I have to leave at 6."

"Well then why don't you just leave and have me wake up by myself," Stella offered.

"Um I don't think so. Someone has to fix breakfast around here," Sierra shot back. She looked at her watch. "Now get going. I had better not hear any stories of you skipping school."

Stella turned away and rolled her eyes. "You won't. You know I've always been a straight-A student.

Sierra put her hands on her hips. "Trust me. I've been through a lot of foster kids, and they're all skippers."

"Ok whatever. I need to practice just a little bit."

Stella's one treasure was her mom's old baby grand piano. Sierra had wanted to get rid of it, but Stella was adamant about keeping it. She had always had a natural talent for piano, but had never been able to take lessons. So she taught herself, hoping one day to be a concert pianist.

"Whatever. Just don't play too loud."

Stella walked over to the beautiful piano and lifted the lid. The moment her fingers touched the keys, she forgot all about Sierra and school and everything else that bothered her. The piano had always held a special magic about it, one that helped her forget everything except her songs.

After she finished, she headed out the door, noticing that Sierra had already left. She pulled out her map.

"Alright, where am I headed? Tribecca Prep High School, that's right," she mused to herself. "Looks like I go this way.."

About a half and hour later, Stella found herself staring up at one of the largest high schools she had ever seen. She took a deep breath and opened the door, where she saw throngs of teens. Most people would be intimidated, especially since it was in the middle of the year, but Stella had been to so many schools that she didn't even care anymore.

"Let's see, which locker am I?" She busied herself, hoping nobody would notice the new girl. Stella had never been to one school for more than a year, and didn't have any friends except her books and her music. She had been on one date, back when she was a freshman, but had been dumped once her date learned that she was a foster child.

After carefully organizing her things in her locker, Stella headed to her first class, hoping not to make a fool of herself or talk to anyone.

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Max Russo took his lunch tray over to the table, where his friends sat, talking excitedly.

"Hey guys. What's up?" he asked.

Alfred turned to face Max. "That's what's up," he exclaimed, pointing to a beautiful girl with shoulder-length brown hair and ice blue eyes.

"Who?" Max asked. "Oh are you talking about that new girl?"

"Um yes. She's like so hot!" Fred, another one of Max's friends, exclaimed.

"Do you think she just moved here?" Will asked.

"Well either that," Alfred said, "Or she's been home schooled all her life." He turned to Max. "Have you seen her in the shop?"

Max shook his head. "Not yet," he replied, still looking at the girl, who was sitting alone at a table, reading a book. "I wonder if she has any friends," he mused.

"Dude. She just moved here. I doubt it," Will told him.

"She's in my history class," Fred exclaimed. "She just sits by herself and listens to the teacher. She did seem to know the answer to every question."

"Man I'd love to ask her out," Will said thoughtfully.

"But I thought you and Sara were together?" Alfred asked.

Will glared at him. "Whatever."

"Well I agree with Will," Fred exclaimed. He turned to Max. "Max, what about you?"

Max snapped out of his stare. "Huh. Whatever. So who do you guys wanna be partnered with for the science project?" He asked. The conversation changed to the upcoming science project, and for the rest of the lunch hour they talked about it.

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"Alright, gang. I'm sure you know what today is," Mr. Lariatate began. Most kids nodded their heads or groaned, but Stella just stared.

"For those of you who don't know," he said, "Everyone will be doing a science project on a subject of their choice. It will count for 30% of your final grade."

Stella was excited. She always loved doing projects.

"I will assign you all partners. Now these were all chosen randomly, and I have no knowledge whatsoever of who you all are being partnered with," Mr. Lariatate said, and immediately Stella's excitement faded.

Partners would mean she would have to work with someone else, which would eventually lead to them learning about her life, which would mean everyone in the school would know. It had happened many times at all of her other schools. She decided that whoever her partner was, she was not going to get attached in any way.

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"…Fredrick Peterson and William Sunten," Mr. Lariatate called out. Max smirked. He knew Fred and Will hated being called by their given names. He was also growing impatient. Last year he was paired with the school bully. He grimaced, thinking about it.

"Max Russo,"

Max perked up.

"You will be paired with Estella Hines," his teacher finished.

Estella Hines? Who was that? Max looked around. He jumped when he heard a bag slamming down on his table. He looked up. It was the girl his friends had been talking about!

The girl looked up shyly "Um I'm Stella, your partner."

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_That's chapter 1! I know it's a little short, but had to get all the background info and stuff out of the way:)_

_Review!!! No flaming please. Comments and constructive criticism greatly appreciated:)_


	2. Chapter 2

Max held out his hand. "Hi. I'm Max Russo." He gave her a disarming smile. Stella couldn't help but smile. He was cute, with medium-length(for a boy) hair and smiling brown eyes. Suddenly she remembered her promise to herself, and straightened up.

"So what should we do our project on?" She asked.

"I don't know," Max replied. He smiled. "Science has never really been my strong point."

"There's a lot of stuff we could do," Stella exclaimed.

"What about 'the evolution of the modern television set'," Max exclaimed jokingly. Stella stared at him.

"You know, that's not a half-bad idea," she exclaimed.

"Really?"

In spite of herself, Stella smiled at him. "Really, I do. We could find pictures of television sets over the years and maybe show how they all work and we could do a poster."

"That sounds cool," Max exclaimed "Maybe we can meet after school?"

"Sounds great," Stella knew she shouldn't have said yes, but she wanted more than anything to get a good grade on this. "I have to baby-sit, but after that I'm free."

"Great! Here's my address," Max wrote his address down on a slip of paper and handed it to her.

"Ok. See you after school," Stella was actually looking forward to it. It was nice to have someone to talk to.

She headed out the school door and into the open air.

It took a while, but finally she found her way to her destination. She rang the doorbell. A middle-aged women opened the door.

"Estella! Oh you've grown so much since I last saw you!" the women exclaimed.

"Hi Mrs. Kirk. Please call me Stella," Stella exclaimed.

Mrs. Kirke and Stella's mom had been best friends since college, and Stella figured that the least she could do for Mrs. Kirk was baby-sit her daughter Kylee, since Mrs. Kirk had to work.

"Alright, Stella." Mrs. Kirke hugged her. Stella was surprised at how good it felt. Sierra had never hugged her, only yelled at her or ignored her.

"It's good to see you," Stella exclaimed. A cute little girl(not more than 7) ran up.

"Mommy!" the girl exclaimed.

Mrs. Kirk laughed. "Stella, this is Kylee. Kylee, say hi to Stella."

Kylee looked up shyly "Hi Stella."

Mrs. Kirk walked Stella into the kitchen. "Here's my cell number in case you need it."

"Thanks." Stella looked embarrassed. "You do have a home phone, right?"

Mrs. Kirk looked surprised. "Of course! But don't you have a cell phone?"

Stella looked at the ground. "No." Sierra had never bothered to buy her one.

Mrs. Kirk put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be prying."

Stella smiled. "It's ok."

"Alright, well I'm off," Mrs. Kirk exclaimed as she walked out the door. "Will you be ok, honey?" she asked Kylee, who nodded eagerly as she pulled out her Barbie dolls.

"Thank you so much for doing this," she said to Stella.

"Oh you're welcome," Stella replied. "I'm sure we'll have a great time."

"Glad to hear it. I should be home by 5," Mrs. Kirk said.

After she left, Kylee showed Stella all her barbies, most of whom were in princess outfits.

"Do you like princesses?" Stella asked, to which Kylee nodded her head vigorously.

"I have lots of princesses!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Want to see them?"

Stella laughed. "Sure, Kylee."

She remembered a long time ago, when her parents were still living and they lived in Wisconsin. Stella had loved princesses, just like Kylee. She had spent many hours dreaming of marrying a handsome prince and living happily ever after. But she knew better now. There was no such thing as 'happily ever after', and she was pretty sure there was no handsome prince in her future. Suddenly an image of Max Russo flicked across her brain. She pushed it away. She stared at Kylee. Stella would have done anything to have Kylee's naiveté and trusting spirit.

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Two hours later, Stella was standing at the door of what she couldn't tell was a sub shop or a subway car. She opened the door and walked in, realizing it was both! She was so busy looking around that she didn't notice the girl in front of her.

"Watch where you're going!" the girl exclaimed. Stella looked up, but it was too late. The girl's trays clashed to the ground.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" Stella exclaimed as she kneeled down to help pick up the stuff that had fallen on the ground.

"You need to be careful," the girl exclaimed moodily. Stella studied her. She was pretty, probably around 18 or 19, with dark hair.

"Stella!"

She turned around to find Max standing there. Immediately she stood up and brushed her knees off.

"Max I'm so sorry! I didn't mean-"

"Alex what did you do?" Max asked the dark-haired girl.

"Nothing," Alex exclaimed. She pointed to Stella. "She made me drop all those trays."

Stella blushed. "Sorry."

Max smiled. "Hey, it's cool." He pulled Alex aside. "You need to stop being mean to our customers. Especially since she's my partner for the science project at school."

Alex stared at Stella. "Wow. How'd you get paired with a hot girl like her? Last year you had the school bully."

Max glared at her. "Mr. Lariatate assigned us partners at random, so just stop, ok? Besides, Stella just moved here, and she doesn't have any friends. So please at least try to be nice."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Fine. Like I care what you do at school or who you hang out with."

Max walked over to Stella. "You'll have to excuse Alex. She's exactly what you would call a social person."

"It's alright. I can understand that," Stella said.

Max walked her over to the counter, where a pretty 40-something women was taking people's orders.

"Mom!" he exclaimed. She turned around.

"Mom, this is Stella. She's my partner for the science project at school," he explained.

Mrs. Russo smiled at Stella. "Hi Stella. I'm Mrs. Russo, Max's mom."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Russo," Stella said.

"Now would I know your parents?" Mrs. Russo asked.

Stella froze up. She couldn't afford for them to know about her parents. "Um I don't think so Mrs. Russo. We just moved here."

"Oh I see," Mrs. Russo said. "Maybe we could have your family over for dinner some night?"

Stella tried to smile. "Yea. That would be great."

"Sounds great, Mom," Max said impatiently. He turned to Stella. "Let's get to work." He ran up the stairs, with Stella close behind. Once they got upstairs, Max showed Stella around the house.

"Thanks for the tour. Neat place," Stella exclaimed once they had finished. "Where should we set up?"

"How about here," Max pointed to the living space by the kitchen.

"Perfect," Stella exclaimed. She put her bag down on the coffee table and began pulling out her things.

"You have a laptop?" she asked Max.

"Way ahead of you," he exclaimed, pulling out a net book.

"MAX!" They heard an anguished cry from upstairs.

Stella looked at Max questioningly. He smiled at her, putting a finger to his lips. He pulled Stella behind the couch. She heard someone running down the stairs. "Max! I know you're behind there," the boy exclaimed. Max sheepishly got up.

"Max where did you hide my special Batman action figure?" the boy asked, though now that Stella could see him she thought he looked around 20.

"Who? Me?" Max tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Yes, you. Who do you think I'm talking to?"

"Well Justin I think you're a bit old to be playing with action figures, don't you think?"

Justin glared at Max. "Whatever. Just tell me where you hid him. There are only 20 of those in the world, you know."

"Fine. Look under Alex's bed," Max told him. "Oh Justin," he began. Justin turned around.

"What?"

"This is Stella," Max said. "She's my partner for the science project at school."

Justin stared at her. He leaned over to Max. "Wow. She is H-O-T! How did you end up with her?"

Max looked at him. "What's the deal? Why does everyone find it so surprising that I have a beautiful partner for the science project?"

Justin shook his head and ran upstairs.

"I know. You don't have to say it. I have a weird family," Max said to Stella.

"No, actually I rather like them," Stella said wistfully. She would've done anything to be part of a family like this.

"You do?" Max asked.

"Yea. I've always wanted a brother or sister," Stella exclaimed. What she didn't mention was that she would like a mom or dad too.

"Only child?"

"Yep," Stella exclaimed.

Max leaned over. "Listen, Stella. If you want them, you can have them."

Stella couldn't help but laugh. "Oh Max. You know I wouldn't want to take away that torture you love so much."

Max lightly punched her in the arm. "Whatever." He smiled at her. She smiled back. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all…

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Stella looked at her watch. "Oh my gosh I have to go!" Sierra had always made Stella be home by 6:30 for dinner. It was 6:00 now. She and Max had been working for about and hour and a half.

"Ok. We got a lot done," Max exclaimed, looking at all their notes. "Maybe we can work on it more tomorrow during lunch?"

"That sounds good." This time, Stella really meant it.

Max walked her to the door. "And you're sure you can find your way back?" he asked.

Stella nodded. "I'll just catch a taxi. I think I have enough." She silently counted the money in her pocket, realizing that she didn't have enough. She grimaced, hoping Max wouldn't notice.

He did. "You don't have enough, do you?" he asked.

"It's fine. I'll find my way."

"No, it's not fine," Max pressed some money into her hand. "Use this."

"Really?" She asked.

"Really," he smiled.

Stella couldn't believe it. Nobody had been this nice to her for a long time. She impulsively hugged him. "Thanks."

As Max watched her go, he heard Justin come up beside him.

"Looks like you have a girlfriend," Justin exclaimed.

Max glared at him. "Shut up." He turned away, but not before Justin caught the faint blush creeping up his face.

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_A/N Sorry about the lame idea for the science project. I have been home schooled all my life and have no idea what kids do for science projects. Please don't beat me up!_


	3. Chapter 3

Stella went home that night feeling better than she had in a long time. Even though Sierra had yelled at her as usual, Stella couldn't shake the feeling that her life was about to get better.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Sierra asked after dinner.

"My room. I have to work on my science project," Stella explained.

Sierra rolled her eyes. "Fine. But don't bother me."

Once Stella was safely in her room, she pulled out all the notes she and Max had made.

"Looks like we got some good info," she thought to herself. She smiled thinking of that afternoon. She couldn't remember the last time she had had such a good time with another person.

_THE NEXT DAY…._

Max Russo grabbed his lunch tray and headed over to the table. Only today, he wasn't sitting with Alfred, Fred and Will. He and Stella were working on their project. He set his tray down.

"Mind if I sit?"

Stella looked up from her book, startled.

"Oh sorry Max. I didn't see you coming," she exclaimed. She moved her stuff and Max sat down.

"Listen Max, I know another thing we could do for our project," she exclaimed.

"What?" Max asked.

"Well I was thinking maybe we could do a study to see how TV affect kids. You know, whether it has positive effect, how it influences their lives, stuff like that."

"I like that," Max said.

"Great. I have some ideas.."

_THE DAY AFTER THAT…._

"Stella!" Max ran up. School was just about to start the next morning.

"What is it?" Stella asked.

"We can't meet after school," Max exclaimed.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Um, my dad's second cousin's aunt's niece's nephew's great aunt's cousin 3 times removed died and we have to go to the funeral in Virginia," Max explained hastily.

Stella stared at him quizzically.

"We keep in touch with all our family," he said. What he didn't say was that the real reason his family had to leave was because there was an emergency wizard meeting at WizTech. Max really liked Stella, but he couldn't afford for her to know his secret.

"Oh gosh. Let's see.. What time do you have to leave?" she asked.

"I think around 5:30 or so," Max answered.

Stella smiled. "I think I may have an idea…."

_AFTER SCHOOL_

"And you're sure this is alright?" Stella asked Mrs. Kirk.

"Oh I'm sure it'll be fine. Kylee has always wanted a big brother," Mrs. Kirk exclaimed.

"Thank you," Stella said. She looked at her watch. "He should be here any minute now."

The doorbell rang. "That must be him," she said. She ran over to the door and opened it. Max stood on the doorstep.

"Hey Max!" Stella exclaimed.

"Hey Stella. How's it going?" Max asked.

"Pretty good. Why don't you come in and meet Mrs. Kirk and Kylee?"

She let him in and introduced him to Mrs. Kirk and Kylee, who did indeed seem delighted to have Max there.

"Well I'm off," Mrs. Kirk exclaimed. "Have fun!"

"She seems like a nice lady," Max remarked to Stella.

"She really is. She was-I mean is-my mom's best friend." Stella realized how close she had been to revealing her secret.

"So how come I never see your mom?" Max asked.

"Well, she works a lot, until like 6." Stella tried to come up with an explanation, praying that Max wouldn't ask any more.

Just then Max felt a tug on her sleeve.

"Do you wanna see my princesses?" Kylee asked eagerly.

Max looked unsure. "Um, sure Kylee." He tried to sound excited.

Kylee grabbed his hand. "This way!" she exclaimed. Max looked back at Stella with an expression that read "help!" Stella just laughed and shook her head.

_LATER…_

"Well that was interesting," Max remarked after Kylee had gone upstairs for her nap.

"It sure was. I never knew you liked barbies so much," Stella playfully teased.

Max mock pouted. "Shut up."

Stella laughed. "You're funny." She glanced at her watch. "We had better get to work. Mrs. Kirk will be back in like an hour," She said.

"Ok. Oh and Stella, just thought I'd let you know that Justin is gonna come pick us up afterwards. He can drop you off at your place." Max said.

"Cool." Stella remarked. "Did you bring your laptop?"

Max pulled it out of his bag. "You bet."

"Awesome. Now let's see. I thought we should try to find some sites that could give us some good info."

"Alright, give me just one second," Max said. He typed something into the search bar while Stella wrote in her notebook. "Check this out!" he exclaimed. "It says here that two kids were so influenced by one show that they got killed while trying to re-create one of the stunts _(A/N This was not real, though it could be, I just made it up)_!"

"Let me see," Stella exclaimed as she leaned over. In doing so, her face accidentally brushed against Max's. Immediately she pulled back and blushed. "Sorry." she exclaimed.

"It-it's ok," Max said, a bit flustered.

"So I think we should put that story about the kids in our project," Stella said a bit too forcefully.

"Yea. That's a good idea."

_EVEN LATER_

Shortly after Mrs. Kirk came home, Max saw Justin's car pull up.

"There's our ride, Stella," Max remarked. They started for the door.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Kirk," Stella said.

"Oh you're welcome dear," Mrs. Kirk said.

"See you tomorrow!" Stella exclaimed as she and Max headed into Justin's car.

"Hey Justin," Max said once they were in the car.

"Hello Max. Stella." Justin greeted them. Stella noticed a tall blond girl in the passenger seat.

"Hey Max," the blond girl said. "Who's your girlfriend?"

Both Max and Stella blushed.

"Uh, Juliet, this is my FRIEND Stella," Max explained.

"Hey Stella. I'm Juliet," the girl said.

Stella smiled. "Hi."

Max leaned over. "That's Justin's girlfriend."

"I heard that!" Justin exclaimed from the front seat.

"But it's so true, isn't it?" Juliet exclaimed.

"That's right," Justin replied. He leaned over and kissed Juliet on the cheek.

Max looked at Stella and rolled his eyes. "You guys are gross, you know that?"

"Oh this is my stop," Stella remarked as they passed her apartment complex. Justin stopped the car and Stella grabbed her bag and got out. "Thanks for the ride, Justin."

Max looked at her. "Do you want me to walk you up?" He asked.

Stella looked momentarily scared. "Oh no. I'm fine. Thanks, though." The last thing she wanted was for Max to find out her secret. "See you tomorrow," she exclaimed.

"Yea. See you tomorrow," Max said somewhat dejectedly. He turned to his brother. "So Justin what exactly is this emergency wizard meeting about?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Justin exclaimed.

"I hope it's not anything too serious," Juliet remarked.

Max snorted. "It's probably about like how WizTech needs more money or something."

_AT WIZTECH_

"Thank you all for coming," Professor Crumbs said. "As you all know, I have called you all here today for an emergency wizard meeting. I'm sure you're wondering what this emergency is. Well, we have just heard reports of wizard hunters. They are reportedly in New York City right now. So be sure to be on the lookout for them, and whatever you do, do not, I repeat, do not, tell anybody about being a wizard. You never know who to trust these days.."

"Wow," Alex remarked. "That is serious."

"You got that right," Justin said. He looked at Juliet, Alex and Max. "We're going to have to be extra careful. We can't trust anyone."

"No one." Max nodded his head in agreement. "Not even Stella," he thought to himself. Justin, Alex and Juliet were all discussing the problem at hand. Max tried to concentrate, but his mind kept wandering to a certain girl at his school. She had looked especially pretty today, with her brown hair in a messy pony tail.

"Stop it Max," he said to himself. "Besides, she's a mortal. So it doesn't matter. Right?"


End file.
